'But you saw similar statues in Spain in nineteen seventy-three,' Tess said.

'Yes, weathered engravings in grottoes outside Merida. And a badly broken bas-relief in a small museum outside Pamplona. Then, to my great surprise, a few sculptures hidden in isolated caves in the area. That's what made me wonder if the heresy continued to survive. Surely the local villagers had explored those caves and knew about the statues. They'd been left there, hidden, for a reason, I thought, and I took care to leave them exactly where I'd found them, out of respect, not to mention fear. After all, I didn't want to anger the local villagers by stealing a sacred part of their tradition, and I did have the sense I was being watched as I left the caves.'

'You never told me that, dear,' Professor Harding said.

'Well, I haven't always told you everything, Richard. I didn't want to concern you. I've had many adventures on my determined solitary journeys, and if you'd known, you might have tried to stop me from going on other journeys. But that's a separate matter. My point is, Tess, your photograph doesn't show an ancient statue. It's a painstaking modern recreation. In marble. Someone went to a great deal of trouble and expense to have it made. The question is, Why?'

'And,' Tess insisted, 'what the hell does it mean? Why would the ancients have considered it religious? Why is Mithras slicing the throat of the bull?'

FOUR

Washington National Airport. Craig waited tensely for the jet to reach the docking platform. He unsnapped his seatbelt and lunged to his feet the instant the seatbelt-warning light was extinguished. In a rush, he squirmed past other passengers in the aisle, anxious to leave the plane.

Past the exit gate, he hurried through the crowded terminal, checking warily around him, apprehensive about anyone who might show an interest in him. Outside the terminal, he fidgeted, forced to stand in a line with other travelers wanting taxis. Finally it was Craig's turn. As an empty cab stopped at the curb, he scrambled into the back, telling the driver, 'The Marriott hotel in Crystal City.' Sweating, Craig glanced repeatedly at his watch.

The taxi arrived at the hotel slightly ahead of schedule, two-twenty-five, about when Craig had predicted to Tess that he'd reach the rendezvous site.

A uniformed doorman approached Craig while he paid the driver and the taxi pulled away. The doorman seemed puzzled that Craig had no luggage. 'Are you checking in, sir?'

'No. I'm expecting someone.'

The doorman frowned and stepped backward. 'Yes. Very good, sir.'

Craig nervously scanned the busy highway, watching for a black Porsche 911. The car wouldn't be hard to recognize. Anytime now, Tess would steer off the highway and stop before him. Craig would dart into the passenger seat. They'd speed away.

Sure. Anytime now.

Craig coughed from the smog and began to pace. He glanced at his watch.

Two-thirty.

Two thirty-five.

Two-forty.

She must be having problems with traffic.

Any minute now, I'll see her.

As solemn men with rings in their pockets watched from a replica of a UPS truck in a parking lot across the street…

As gray-eyed men stared with vicious resolve from the window of a restaurant farther along the street…

Craig's muscles hardened.

Two forty-five.

He breathed heavily.

Tess!

For God's sake, what happened? Where the hell are you?

FIVE

'You said you saw the sculpture in a bedroom of a friend?' Priscilla asked.

Tess hesitated, again unsure how much to reveal for fear that the Hardings would be in danger if the people hunting her found out that she'd come here. 'Yes, the statue was on a bookshelf.'

'From the rigid expression on your face, it's obvious something else troubles you.'

Tess made her decision. Urgency compelled her. She had to know. 'The bedroom…'

'What about it?'

'… looked strange.'

Priscilla leaned suddenly forward. 'How?'

'There weren't any lamps. The overhead bulb didn't work. The floor was covered with candles. And next to the statue, on each side, there were other candles.'

'Candles? Of course. And one pointed upward, the other downward?' Priscilla asked at once.

Tess jerked her head back in surprise. 'Yes. How did you know?'

'The photograph of the sculpture. The torch bearers flanking Mithras. One torch is raised, the other inverted. Tess, I very much suspect that what you saw was a makeshift version of a Mithraic altar. What else haven't you told me?'

With a shiver, Tess relented completely, prepared to tell Priscilla everything. Rapidly she explained, from the start, a week ago Wednesday – could it have been only that recently?-the first time she'd met Joseph. The gold Cross pen she'd dropped in the elevator.

Joseph had studied the pen and murmured its name almost with reverence.

Gold Cross.

Tess now knew what those words had meant to Joseph.

The symbol for the sun god.

SIX

Near Washington National Airport, the smog became thicker. In the replica of the UPS truck that stood in a parking lot across from the Marriott hotel, a man with a ring in his pocket spoke to a phone equipped with a scrambler to prevent anyone from overhearing his conversation. 'No, he just keeps pacing in front of the hotel. Every thirty seconds, he checks his watch. It's obvious he's waiting for someone. This has to be the rendezvous site. Anytime now, the woman ought to arrive.'

A voice on the other end of the line said, 'But you're sure he doesn't know you followed him from the airport?'

'As certain as I can be,' the man in the truck said. The moment the target left the plane and got into a taxi, one of my operatives used a portable phone to warn me. We were parked at the exit from the airport. When we saw the cab that the bait had hired, we pulled out ahead of him. He went directly to the hotel. We parked across the street.'

'And the enemy? the voice on the other end demanded. 'Have you seen any evidence of the vermin?'

'Not yet. But we have to assume that they followed the detective just as we did. If the woman's as great a danger to them as we suspect they fear, he's the only way for them to locate her.'

'Keep watching! Keep searching for them!'

'We're trying. I've got another team patrolling the highway. But this area's extremely congested. Unless you get up close to the vermin and happen to notice the color of their eyes… We won't know for certain until the enemy makes its move. Wait a…! Hold it!'

'What?' the voice on the other end said fiercely.

'Something's happening! In front of the hotel. I don't understand! The bait just-!'